Stories for July 2017

Uruguay's veterinary authorities have reported two outbreaks of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) at two pig farms, one based in Salto and the other in Canelones. An immediate notification was sent to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on 20 July.

Next 31 July 2017 will mark a century since the beginning of the Third Battle of Ypres – widely known as Passchendaele. The UK Government, in collaboration with the Belgian Government, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and the Royal British Legion is hosting a series of events to mark one of the defining battles of the First World War.

Gibraltar will continue to grow in a post-Brexit world and Spain should not create obstacles to cross-border cooperation that will generate jobs and wealth for the region, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told a seminar in the neighboring town of San Roque in Andalucía.

As the United Kingdom begins contacts to negotiate new trade deals as it leaves the EU in 2019, food will be one of many areas that will need to be addressed. The ongoing spat over chlorine chicken highlights how tastes and safety practices around the world can differ hugely, since what might seem normal practice in one country can seem problematic elsewhere.

The U.S. government ordered family members of employees at its embassy in Venezuela to leave on Thursday as a political crisis deepened ahead of a controversial vote critics contend will end democracy in the oil-rich country.

President Donald Trump has named General John Kelly, who currently heads the Department of Homeland Security, as his next chief of staff. The announcement, made on Twitter on Friday afternoon, removes Reince Priebus from the role.

Air France-KLM is buying almost a third of Virgin Atlantic, leaving Sir Richard Branson's parent company, Virgin Group, with a minority stake in the airline he founded. Air France-KLM is taking a 31% stake, worth £220m, in Virgin Atlantic as part of a four-way joint-venture with US partner Delta.

Brazilian federal police on Thursday arrested a former head of Petrobras and the Banco do Brasil, marking a new chapter of the sweeping graft probe into the state-owned oil company. Three people were detained in the operation, the prosecutor's office said in a statement, as part of the Car Wash investigation that has uncovered systemic corruption and ensnared many of Brazil's political and business elites.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has lost another member of her inner circle after her strategy director and chief speechwriter Chris Wilkins quit. Wilkins follows the prime minister’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, and policy chiefs John Godfrey and Will Tanner, who also resigned after the disastrous snap general election in June, which led to the Conservatives losing their majority in the House of Commons.